Categories of new players...

Posted by Bill

It was nice to get some decent numbers back out on the field yesterday. We want to welcome out two new players, Leroy & Kevin and one returning player, Brook, who had been gone so long he had to get put back on the distribution list first.

Leroy reminded me of some of the other summer hires, interns and students we’ve had come play with us before… "young and can run”…Thanks for making some of us more “seasoned” players feel even older and slower. And speaking of feeling slower…playing with Dennis yesterday I found out after that amazing catch he made in the end zone where I thought he just misplayed it but found out he was really juking up the defender first before running behind him and falling down to catch it…anyway, Dennis, who most of you know has some good wheels when he’s running is doing so short one ACL…I’ve got two perfectly healthy ACLs and I don’t usually run that well.

Of course the other type of player knows you can run smarter, not harder and that would describe our other new addition, Kevin. I knew he had played before as we were marking up he was shouting out the number player he was taking, “I’ve got 6”, which most organized Ultimate players will recognize as him saying he had the 6th guy from the left . Of course most of the guys on the gold team yesterday had no idea what he was saying and asked for some sort of clarification “green shorts”, Kevin elaborated, not wanting to confuse anybody with the jumble of names he promised to remember, albeit, not with any particular faces. I knew I was going to enjoy playing with him when I heard him mention “I don’t need anybody to mark me when I don’t have the disc, I can do that myself”. Sorry, Kevin, hope I didn’t let out the secret to your elusiveness.

So Brook, how was the first game back in, uh, how many months? Feeling a little gassed? It was fairly humid yesterday until about two thirds of the way into the game when we were mercifully given some cloud cover and a breeze.

Hollan was playing some mad D yesterday…well, right up until he broke his heel. Okay, so we don’t know exactly if that’s what happened but his negative reply to the game this morning “because I’m on crutches and headed to Bethesda” didn’t sound good.

Rodney and I both seemed pleasantly surprised at the lack of contact from each other after the game yesterday but he seemed genuinely offended that I told him I’d have to use veto power on any selection of him for SOTG in June. Speaking of the Spirit…Bryan brought the SOTG trophy disc out to the field yesterday. I initially suspected he’d been through too many hazing ceremonies and thought he had to carry it around with him everywhere until it was awarded to somebody else but as it turns out, he’s winding down his last week with us before departing to the upper Midwest and wants me to keep it safe so he doesn’t forget and leave with it.

Conrad…how is it you’ll drop a disc in the wide open but when I’m marking you and am all over you and tipping the disc, you manage to come down with it?

I heard Bob mention that there were a lot of good handlers out yesterday…I’d have to agree. Whenever you’re playing with Eli, Todd, Brook, or Eric, you know if you can get yourself open that you’re likely to get a good pass at some point. Todd may have made the best one on the last point of the game yesterday…a full length huck for a score.

We managed to keep Bryan from diving for anything yesterday, hoping to preserve him for his marathon this weekend. Good luck!

Going to be another great weather day today but surprisingly only 4 people have responded so far this morning. Hollan, you’re excused, the rest of you????